


The Prince's Heart

by panboi



Series: The Prince's Heart [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2015-11-04
Packaged: 2018-03-04 07:00:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2956706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panboi/pseuds/panboi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prince Marco is forced into an engagement by his father to a Princess of a land that his kingdom is on the verge of war with. Marco meets an adorkable boy named Jean and they hit it of. Will Marco and Jean get to be together or will Marco's responsibilities as a prince out weigh his heart?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Prince's Journey

Marco paced the floor of his bedroom as he thought worriedly about his resent engagement his father had set up for him. He didn’t really want to marry the girl, he hadn’t even met her. But he would have to endure for the sake of his country. Or at least, that’s what his father kept telling him.

Marco was a hopeless romantic, though he barely ever got the chance to show it. He had only been in one relationship prior to this. The girl was sweet, but to Marco it felt kind of….forced, he just didn’t feel that way about her. What he really wanted to do was find someone he truly loved, someone he could write poems for, someone he could spend the rest of his life with. But his father didn’t believe in love, he only believed in wealth and power. He didn’t always act that way, but ever since Marco’s mother died, when Marco was eight, his father had been very secluded, even cold towards him.

Marco sighed and stopped moving, he looked at the position of the sun in the sky and decided that it was probably time to leave. He quickly scooped up his meager luggage and went down to the stables. Marco walked through the barn doors and spotted Levi, the commander of his nation’s army, and for now, his chaperone.

“Sure took you long enough.” Levi spat out in annoyance

“Sorry,” Marco apologized. “I didn’t-”

“Just shut up and start saddling your horse.” Levi interrupted.

Marco felt slightly hurt by the harsh words directed towards him. But most of him—the adolescent part of him—wanted to just stick his tongue out at Levi. With great restraint, Marco held himself back and just did as he was told. A Marco finished prepping his horse for their adventure he looked over at Levi. His horse was huge, it dwarfed him, more than usual. He had seen Levi on his horse, but never directly beside it.When Levi started getting on the horse, Marco was sure he would fall off, he was about to offer his help when Levi pulled himself on the horse with ease. Marco stared in amazement at the shorter man’s grace.

“What?” Levi demanded, noticing Marco’s stare. “They didn’t give me the job as the commander of this nation’s military just for my good looks you know.”

“N-no, of course not,” Marco said quickly. “I didn’t mean-”

“Yeah, whatever,” Levi rolled his eyes. “Just get on your horse already so we can leave.” Marco didn’t get mad at people often but Levi was really starting to get on his nerves. With some effort Marco finally lifted himself into the saddle and before he even hit the seat, Levi was galloping towards the gates at the end of the property.Not surprisingly, Marco’s father didn’t wait at the gates to tell his only child good bye. But, thankfully, some of his father’s servants that helped raise Marco were there to wish him good luck and safety while he was gone. He hugged them and told them he would be back in a few months.

“Let’s go brat.” Levi said impatiently. Marco scowled at him. But complied and leaped back up on his horse. Marco couldn’t help but be excited, he’d only been out of the country a few times, his father sometimes took him to meetings he had with other countries to see how things worked. He was ready to see the world from the other side of a carriage’s window.

They set off towards his new bride’s home, he couldn’t say he wasn’t curious to meet her, but he definitely wasn’t looking forward to it. He didn’t hate her, he just wanted to marry someone for a more personal reason than to keep his country out of a war. The best he could hope for was that they could be friends and that they could both accept this relationship that was forced onto them. Marco wondered how she felt about the engagement. He was sure that she couldn’t be happy with how things are turning out, surely she wanted more out of life than this too.

Then a thought crossed Marco’s mind, he could just run away. He had a horse, some food, water, extra clothes, even some stuff he could sell for more money if needed to. He even brought some money with him. _I can’t,_ He thought to himself. _That would surely throw our country into a war. This is no time to be selfish._

He felt his hope diminish and his heart turn dark at the realization that he would never be truly in love. He couldn’t escape the marriage, not with a clear conscience. He was trapped in this promise that he couldn’t break, wouldn’t break.

He slumped down in his saddle and followed Levi, less enthusiastically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I know I'm not a great writer, but I really appreciate you guys reading this. It means a lot to me, thank you so much! *hugs* I hope we can fangirl together as the story unfolds. Hope to see you in the next chapter, have fun~


	2. The Prince's Destination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean and Marco finally meet at a point in their lives where they have both hit rock bottom and are needing someone more than ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I deleted what was in the notes here because I reread this a few months after I wrote it and honestly that was so embarassing.

Marco had long ago started feeling pains in his back and butt from riding the horse, but he said nothing in fear of angering Levi. He had just about given up trying to pretend he was fine when Levi called back to him. "Hey! we're going to stop at this inn for the night." he pointed at a large log cabin a couple hundred meters in front of them. Marco let out a sigh of relief and stared racing to the inn as fast as his horse would let him. He heard Levi yelling at him in frustration but he just tuned it out, he was ready to pass out in a bed somewhere. Hell, he would've curled up on the ground as long as he wasn't in the torture chamber Levi called a saddle.

Once he was in front of the inn he tied his horse to a tree and walked in, Levi at his side. "Let me handle this," Levi ordered. "You go sit over there." He pointed at the several chairs that were sitting in the lobby, a few were taken by a group of boys, there was one girl with them, she had dark brown hair that was pulled back into a pony tail. They all looked to be about Marco's age. Marco smiled and took the closest seat to them.

"Hello." Marco greeted them pleasantly with interest.

"Hey." One of the boy's answered, Marco notice that he had very strange hair. He had an undercut but the top layer of his hair was a light color, where the layer underneath was dark brown. He stuck out his hand to Marco. Marco took it and shook it firmly out of habit from his father's constant bickering that a prince should have as grip unwavering as his kingdom. "Nice grip." the boy commented with a smile. Marco nodded at the compliment, slightly embarrassed. "So what's your name?" The boy asked.

"I'm Marco." Marco answered sheepishly, becoming more and more shy as time went on.

"Well, hi Marco. I'm Jean, and this is Connie, Sasha, Bertolt, and Reiner." Jean introduced the group starting with him and going to the right. The group waved at Marco; Connie and Sasha seemed to be distracted, they were talking about something. Marco thought he heard them say "beef" and "oohhh", lots and lots of oohhh's. Bertolt quietly said hello and was dragged into a conversation with Reiner, who didn't give Marco a second glance. "Sorry about them." Jean apologized, scooting his chair closer to Marco. "So where are you from, and more importantly, where are you going?" Jean sounded genuinely interested in Marco's answer, he even leaned in so that his friends' chatter wouldn't distract him. Marco liked this Jean boy, he seemed sweet and polite.

"I'm coming from King Arthur's castle." Marco decided to only answer half of the question, he was about to ask Jean where he was from when he noticed that the room quieted suddenly.

"Are you like, royalty or somthin'?" Connie asked. Jean gave him a cruel glance at the intrusive comment but looked back at Marco awaiting an answer. "Well...." Marco hesitated.

"Y-yes." something changed in all of their eyes at the same time, but the most noticeable and curious one was Jean. He looked almost sad, maybe even hurt, but there was something more than that, he also had pity hidden among all of the emotions that swam in his beautiful brown eyes.

"Prince Marco, I have our rooms." Levi called to Marco waving a couple of keys in the air. Marco nodded and gave the group one final glance before leaving. Jean had his head in his hands, Bertolt looked down at the ground, Reiner looked really excited, and Connie and Sasha looked at each other and shrugged.

When Marco got in his room it was already dark out so he just changed into his pajamas and hopped into bed, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

 

Marco was suddenly jerked awake by a loud noise in his room. He looked around his eyes wide in surprise, he didn't notice anything at first, but when he went to lay back down he felt a piece of a piece of paper next to where his head was just moments ago. Marco could tell it had words on it but he couldn't read them from the moon light coming in from his open window alone. Marco scrambled for a candle and quickly lit it, he held the paper up to the light and read it a few times, he couldn't believe it.

 

_Dear Marco,_

_I'm sorry, but we robbed you, I tried to get them to stop but they said that you were a prince so you could afford it. Reiner's little brother is sick and Bertolt's mom takes care of the sick people around town a lot so she's sick too. I'm really sorry, I wish we could've met when times weren't so tough. I really do hope to see you again Marco. Oh, and good luck on your engagement, Reiner knows all about that kind of stuff, he told me._ _I can't say I'm not disappointed though._

_See you again someday, Jean._

 

Marco felt so many emotions run through him as he read the letter, anger, sadness, sympathy, happy from Jean's last comment. He took a seat on his bed, the letter in his hands, he read it over and over. He finally decided to tell Levi what had happened, though he would keep the letter to himself.

 

“What do you mean you’ve been robbed?!” Levi shouted grumpily from inside his room. Marco had decided to wake Levi and tell him about the theft immediately. He was starting to regret his decision due to Levi’s less than happy demeanor.

“I mean I was robbed, someone came into my room and stole my things.” Marco rolled his eyes at Levi’s idiotic question. Levi closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

“Well come in.” Levi moved out of the doorway and pointed inside at his room. Marco walked by Levi and sat down on the only chair in the room.

“Look,” Marco sighed. “I’m sorry, but It’s not like I planned for this to happen. And we’ll be on the road in the morning anyways, I can just wear my clothes from yesterday.”

Levi took a deep breath. “Alright, the sun will be up in an hour, we’re leaving now.”

“Now?”

“Yes, now. Go get changed.”

Marco was stunned by Levi’s eagerness to leave, but he hurried off to his room and changed. Once he was dressed he went down to the tree to get his horse. Levi was already there so Marco started saddling his horse. It took a lot less time to get the horse ready this time since Marco had at least a little more experience and didn’t have any luggage.

They were headed towards the princess’s castle in a few minutes. They rode in a silence that seemed to grow more hostile by the second. Marco couldn’t take it anymore.

“Okay,” Marco burst out. “What is it?”

Levi didn’t turn around or even slow down as he answered. “You shouldn’t have let those kids that you’re a royal.”

“You’re the one that called me ‘Prince Marco’.”

Levi made an annoyed noise and quickened his horse’s pace. Obviously not liking Marco’s point. They made their journey to the next town in their path as quickly as possible. They were both obviously growing sick of each other’s company and wanted to have a thick wall between them as soon as possible.

“We’re in Trost.” Levi called back to Marco, he sounded relieved and tired. Marco suddenly felt a pang of guilt for waking him up so early in the morning. They rode into town, since they were a day early due to the early rising and readiness to get away from one another, Marco decided not to bother the King and Queen and asked Levi if they could stay in town and explore a bit.

“Do what you want,” he got off of his horse in front of a little inn at the center of town and pulled his horse to the small stable that already had a couple of horses in them. “I’m going to sleep.” Marco nodded and put his horse in the stables with Levi’s, but instead of going into the inn, he waved good bye to Levi and went walking through town.

 _So this is the capital of my-soon-to-be-wife’s county._ Marco thought, his heart sank slightly at the thought of getting married to a stranger, but he continued through the streets without stopping. He walked aimlessly through the twisting streets, he wasn’t the slightest bit worried about getting lost, even though he had a terrible sense of direction.

Marco was suddenly ripped back into reality when he noticed a tuff of sandy blonde hair disappear behind a building in front of him. _Jean?_ Marco ran to the corner and peaked behind it. It _was_ Jean, with Bertolt and Reiner. Marco was tempted to just walk up to them and say hello, but he knew Reiner didn’t think much of him. Marco waited there for a couple of minutes, then Reiner and Bertolt left. This was Marco’s chance. Marco took a side step and revealed his location behind the stone building.

“Uh…hi Jean.” Marco stammered out shyly.


	3. The Prince's Curiosity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco and Jean meet once again when Marco goes out exploring in his soon-to-be-wife's country. Will a new romance bloom? Will Levi kill half of the pair before it can? Read on to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I haven't updated in forever (-_-) Yeah I hate me too. But please don't be mad. I won't even try to explain myself 'cause really??? This took me way too long and I feel terrible. I'm so sorry *offers you cupcake* Here you go *whispers* forgive me (T.T)

Jean stopped in his tracks, not even flinching at the boy's sudden arrival. "Marco?" He asked, wondering if he was hallucinating. "I-I mean _prince_ Marco." Jean bowed, he'd never been around royalty so he just tried to be as polite as possible. Jean shivered, the cool dusk air was a good cover, but he was actually just scared of what the prince would do to him and his friends. "If you're here for your money, I can't give it back to you." Jean explained, trying his hardest to keep his voice level. "I'm very sorry, but it has already been spent." Jean was regretting allowing himself to be pulled into Reiner's foolishness, and even more so that they had already spent the money on food.

Marco couldn't help but feel sorry for Jean. He walked towards him, each step causing Jean's heart to sink a little. "Jean," Marco said when he got in reaching distance of the boy. "Stand up please." Jean was still bowing for some reason, maybe concentrating on the cracks in the stones under his feet gave him at least the smallest distraction from his predicament.

Jean did as he was told and looked up at Marco, for the first time Jean realized the prince was taller than he was. "Please," Marco said holding his hand out to Jean. "Call me Marco." Jean was confused to say the least, but he took the other boy's hand and nodded. "So, where do you go at night?" Marco asked, attempting at conversation. Jean's eyes lit up in response.

"Come with me." Jean ushered Marco down the path that Bertolt and Reiner had taken. Marco did and hurried after the copper haired boy.

They quickly arrived in an area filled with boys anywhere from eight to twenty five. It was a big area, surrounded by four brick walls that went up two or three stories. The dark sky was visible due to the lack of a ceiling above them. There was only one other exit, it was all the way across the room. Of course, Marco couldn't see it due to the enormous amount of bodies that were in the way, but Jean told him "just in case". After that quick introduction to this foreign space Jean brought Marco to what looked like a stickball game **(A/N its kinda like baseball)**. Marco had never played stickball himself, but he'd read about it before. Marco smiled fondly at the young boys that ran from one place to another.

Marco looked around the space suddenly realizing how late it was already. There were small fire pits scattered around different games and people, most were talking and laughing and drinking. Someone with a mug of something, Marco wasn't quite sure what, came up to Jean and Marco, the boy was small, he couldn't have been older than twelve, but he was slurring his words and stumbling around drunkenly.

"Hey Jeanbo!" He yelled to Jean.

Marco noted Jean's eye's flare up at the nick name. "Oi! I told you not to call me that!" Jean growled. "What're you doin' out here drinkin' anyways?" He asked, pinching the bridge of his nose and scoop the cup out of the boy's hand.

"Hey!" The boy squealed angrily, reaching for the liquid.

"Uh uh." Jean laughed, easily dodging the boy's hands.

"That's no fair!" The boy complained taking a step back and giving Jean a dirty look.

"Just go home." Jean sighed, taking the boy's shoulder and turning him towards the exit. To Marco's surprise the boy complied, he wobbled to the exit, Marco looked after the boy worriedly, afraid something would happen to him.

"Don't worry about him." Jean smiled. "He'll be fine." Marco relaxed a little, _a little_ _._  "Actually," Jean looked up at the sky. "Its getting kinda late, don't you have a knight waiting for you or something?"

"Oh-" Marco frantically looked up at the star filled sky. "I need to g-" Marco began to dart towards the exit.

"Wait." Jean grabbed his wrist light to get Marco's attention. "Let me walk you there, it'd only make things worse if you got lost out here." Jean smiled and released his grip on Marco.

"O-Okay." Marco nodded, he tried to stop his blush in vain. He felt his cheeks warm which just made him blush more. Jean smirked and gently lead Marco to the exit. the walked out into the alley that they had entered from.

"Do you remember the name of the place you're staying at?" Jean asked putting his hands behind his head.

"U-umm.....I think it was called the Majestic Palace or something?" Marco answered after he had (mostly) controlled his blush.

Jean looked up in thought. "I'm pretty sure I know where that's at."

"Pretty sure?!" Marco asked in alarm.

"Relax your highness, I'll get you to your bed safe, I promise." Jean winked suggestively at Marco. Marco blushed again and cursed himself for getting so easily flustered. In Marco's defense, he hadn't ever gotten the chance to flirt with anyone before.

They walked in a comfortable silence until the inn came into view.

"Ahh, here we ar-" Jean started. He was cut off abruptly when he saw a short fuming man staring him down.

"C-commander?" Marco stumbled over his words, fear and embarrassment threatening to take him over.

"Who is this stupid looking brat?" Levi asked, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes glaring a hole in Jean.

"T-this is.....Jean." Marco stuttered.

"Oh." Levi suddenly remembered the boy. "You're the one that we saw at the inn a couple towns over. Yeah that was when Marco's stuff got stolen....." Realization hit Levi like a sack of bricks. Levi moved faster than light and was somehow between Marco and Jean with a sword in his hand. "You bastard." Levi growled.

"Wha- wait Levi no-!" Marco grabbed Levi's elbow and pulled him away from Jean, well _tried_ to pull him away. Marco finally figured out why Levi was so abruptly promoted to commander. _He was solid as a boulder._ No matter how hard Marco tugged, Levi didn't move an inch, IT DIDN'T EVEN LOOK LIKE HE WAS TRYING.

While all of this was happening Jean was standing in complete silence. He didn't look scared or even angry, he looked apologetic and sad.

Marco stared in shock, feeling an inexplicable urge to console the sandy haired boy. "Yeah, umm.....I'm sorry about that." Jean scratched the back of his head, trying notto show the anger that he felt towards himself. Levi seemed genuinely surprised by the boy's apology.

"Fine," he scoffed. "But I don't want you to be around Marco anymore, you got that?" It was more a demand than a question, no one ever went against Levi's orders. Jean seemed to think a moment before nodding slowly.

"Good, we'll be leaving then." Levi guided Marco through the doors of the inn, showing him to his room. "Honestly," Levi huffed when they were both in Marco's room. "I can't leave you alone for a minute. I mean, really? You were walking around with the boy that robbed you." Levi sighed, falling into a chair with a soft thump.

 _This is new,_ Marco thought to himself. _Levi has never acted motherly towards me before._ Marco was confused at Levi's sudden protectiveness. To be honest, Levi wasn't sure why he was so concerned about Marco. Maybe it was because his king had told him to watch over Marco? Maybe it was the advice that the maids had given him on Marco's personality and habits. Was it possible that he was just a nice kid and that Levi cared about his well being? Levi choked and struggled to keep a laugh from escaping. _No way_ , he thought. He had almost shrugged and left it to being a job. _A_ _lmost._

Marco laughed at his own recklessness, he didn't think Jean would hurt him but he could see why Levi was worried. "Yeah, I guess." Levi told Marco to get ready for bed and to go to sleep, and Levi left, Marco assumed he was going to do the same. Marco quickly undressed and put his sleeping clothes on. He quickly pulled the blankets up to his neck and, with Jean's strange personality fresh in mind, tried to figure the boy out. He failed to answer any of the questions he had on the boy before falling into a deep sleep.

 

 


	4. The Prince's Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean comes to Marco through an unexpected method and tries to stay with the boy for as long as possible, but with the marriage ceremony only a few days away the teenagers find themselves in an impossible predicament.

Marco woke up to a loud tapping on his window, he quickly got up and walked to it. It was dawn when a boy Marco's age climbed through his window.

"Hey handsome, g'morning." Jean said with a wink as he set two cloth bags on Marco's desk.

"H-hello." Marco stuttered. "How did you know which room was mine...."

Jean laughed and scratched his head in embarrassment. _Jean's embarrassed?_ Marco wondered in awe, he didn't think that was possible.

"I might have asked the lady that owns this place where the hot teenage boy was staying." Jean offered with an awkward smile. Marco blushed and fiddled with his hands. Jean moved over to Marco's bed and sat down, ignoring the chair that was by the desk.

"I couldn't get back all your money, but that's what Bertolt gave me." Jean pointed to the smaller sack. In truth Riener and Bert had already spent the money, but Jean did a few quick jobs last night and early this morning and added in all of his savings. Jean figured Marco wouldn't take it if he told him where the money really came from, hard work.

"O-oh, you didn't have to do that." Marco picked up the bag and walked over to give it back to Jean.

Jean refused, and stood up on the bed. "I know I didn't have too, but I would feel awful if we just took your money." _Especially since you're so cute._ Jean added mentally, smiling down at the brown haired prince. _Prince,_ it's so easy to forget that this sweet guy was royalty. Jean would probably sentenced to death for stealing if Marco wasn't so nice.

"Hmph." Marco pouted putting the coins back on the desk. _He's even cute when he's angry?!_ Jean wasn't sure how he felt about this new information, but he was positive he would exploit it later.

"So Marco," Jean began as he sat back down on the bed. "You wanna go somewhere before you go off to your princess?" Marco paused at the desk, How did Jean know where he was going? Oh, wait, didn't one of his friends know a lot about royalty? Marco turned around.

"Levi would get angry." Marco explained, an apologetic look on his face. "And after yesterday, I'd rather not push my luck."

Jean shrugged and pushed himself off of the bed. "I guess I just thought that ya know, since we had such a good time last night. I thought you might want to explore more...." Jean put on a sad face and shuffled over to the window. Jean was actually a rather good actor, he knew it was mean to play with Marco's emotions like this, but he really wanted Marco to come with him.

"Wait!" Marco called, just as Jean had reached the window.

Jean turned around, a hopeful smile on his face. "Yes Marco?"

"I'll....go with you....." Marco said slowly, hoping he wouldn't regret his decision.

"Yay!" Jean ran to Marco and gave him a hug. Marco blushed as Jean spilled the contents of the second bag onto the desk.

"W-what're you doing?" Marco asked, leaning over Jean's shoulder to see for himself.

"I'm setting up breakfast, here." Jean tossed some clothes to Marco.

"What's this." Marco asked inspecting the clothing.

"They're clothes, they'll help you blend in more." Jean explained, not even turning to look at Marco. "I also brought you a hat and some shoes." Jean plopped some shoes on the ground and waved the hat in the air before setting the hat back down on the desk.

"Thank you." Marco managed as he walked over to the corner of the room. "Don't look over here." Marco ordered as he slowly began to take of his sleep ware. Jean said nothing as he continued to mess with the food on the desk.

Just as Marco finished dressing he looked up to see Jean gawking at him. "Jean!" Marco yelled in embarrassment. He threw his a piece of his pajamas at Jean. Jean caught the cloth with ease and laughed a little.

"Okay, I finished up preparing breakfast." He announced through fits of laughter. Marco came around Jean, still blushing from Jean peeking at him. Laid on the desk was some bread and fruit with some water that was poured into two mugs.

"Thanks." Marco mumbled, picking up the mug and taking a swig of water.

They ate in silence, the only sound coming from their mouths as they quickly ate their food. "Alright." Jean stood up excitedly and jerked his thumb in the direction of the window he had come from. "Let's go freckles." The nickname surprised Marco, but he got up obediently and followed Jean to the window.

A quick knock came to Marco's door right before Jean was about to climb out. "Marco." It was Levi. 


	5. The Prince's Matrimony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco's getting married?! Right now?!

"Marco?" Levi called knocking softly to try to wake Marco from his sleep. "We need to get going in half an hour so wake up and get dressed okay?" Levi wasn't usually gentle, but he seemed to be very calm and patient with Marco.

"Thanks, Levi." Marco attempted to sound drowsey and apparently succeeded because he soon heard Levi's boots scuffle away. Marco let out a long sigh and looked over at Jean how gave him a shrug.

"I'd hate to be on that guy's bad side again," Jean seemed....sad.

"Jean?" Marco asked, reaching out to touch Jean's shoulder. Jean flinched, but when Marco tried to pull away in shock, Jean grabbed his hand softly.

"I'll show you around some other time, okay?" Jean raised his eyes to Marco's. Marco nodded, accepting his invitation. "Promise?" it was strange for Marco to see Jean so serious, he hadn't known Jean for long, but he knew this wasn't typical of him.

"I promise," Marco answered, the tension in Jean's face was relieved albeit only slightly. With one final look, Jean slipped out of the window and was gone with the wind. 

Marco stood in his room, just staring at the window in shock. He was quickly jarred out of his lost state when Levi knocked on his door again. 

"Are you ready?" he asked on the other side of the door. 

"Almost," Marco answered, throwing off his street clothes and putting on the ones that others would expect a prince to be in. The gold embrodery always felt like way too much to him but his dad always wnt on and on about the image of those of royal blood and how he should look the part of a prince. Marco threw open the door to find Levi standing alert in the hallway. 

"Let's go." Levi ordered, pointing down the halway and walking behind me.

"Where are we going?" Marco asked.

"We're going to meet your new bride." Marco could almost hear the pity that he was sure was showing on his face. Marco could feel a cold sweat spreading across his body as they saddled their horses and headed to the castle that was no more than a mile into the city. They rode in silence, Marco was far too nervous to talk and Levi was never opposed to silence. They reached the gates of the castle sooner than Marco would have hoped, their horses were taken away and they were lead inside by a man in clean crisp clothing that Marco had never seen before.  _So this is why I need to marry this princess,_  Marco thought. _Not only will it keep us from a war we can't hope to win, h_ _er family is probably rich enough to get us out of debt._

Marco sighed as they were met by a balding man in luxurious clothing once inside the castle. 

"Greetings, Marco Bodt!" He greeted with a grand gesture, completely ignoring Levi. 

"Hello King Reiss," Marco greeted, formally. "Thank you for allowing my country this oppertunity to heal wounds before things got out of hand."

"Well of course young prince, I''ve heard wonderous things and I think you would be a perfect husband for my young daughter." 

"I'm honored." Marco bwed his head slightly. "I've been eagerly awaiting the moment that I would meet the princess." It wasn't a complete lie, he was curious to see what she was like, but he was in no way happy about their engagment. 

King Reiss laughed heartedly. "Yes, she's quite a jem, a truely wonderful young woman." From what Marco had gathered from whispers around the castle the king had all but ignored her due to her illegitimacy and jumped at the chance to get rid of her when Marco's father had asked for there to be a permenant ceasefire between the two long fighting countries. 

Marco smiled at the man warily and asked when he could see the princess.

"You will see her at your ceremony of course!" The king answered as if that was easily deductible. 

"When is our ceremony?"

"Right now! Hasn't anyone told you anything?" The king asked impatiently, Marco was taken aback by the king's words. 

Before Marco was given another second to think of something else to say he was carried off to a large courtyard filled with flowers of evry shape, size, and color. In the center of the yard was a large white altar that loomed over a small body who clong to the flowers in it's hands. Marco guessed that was Historia, the princess he was set to marry. 

To Marco's surprise, the ceremony was very short with almost no time for Marco to breath or think about what he was doing. it was over before he could take a breath and think about what had just happened.

"I'm married." Marco whispered to himself oce he had a spare momnet to himself.

"That you are," came a familiar voice, Jean appeared from the half opened door that lead into the room Marco was in. "Congratulations." Jean added, he seemed tired, his cheeks were blochy in a way that they weren't before and his eyes were red. How did he look so different? Marco had just talked to him not more than two hours ago.

"Jean-" Maro's voice caught as he took in the sight of the broken man in front of him. "What happened?" he asked, his voice shaking as much as his knees.

Jean just laughed in responce, then he walked towards Marco, raising a shaky hand hand to the other boy's face. "You're quite the trouble maker prince Marco." Jean traced his thumb over Marco's innumerable freakles and...left. No witty comment or goofy smile to lessen the load that Marco felt weigh down his chest.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha, I updated, I'm sorry this took forever, I hope you like it~  
> (Also I would like to add that I know the summary sucks, sorry about that too)


	6. The Prince's Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When four hearts are held in the balance by one boy's decision, what can he do to keep everyone from falling to pieces?

Marco sat, starting at the door that Jean had left from. He just needed a moment to figure out his situation. Sure, he was married now, he could go along with this. Historia seemed like a nice girl, though Marco could tell that she was just as against this as he was. He could pretend to love her around the public, it would spare the lives of his people, and it's not like he'd be suffering, and most people were discontent with their lives...weren't they?

 _Its fine,_ Marco thought, clenching his fists to calm himself. _I'm fine,_ we _are fine._  Marco glanced out his window and saw that the sun was starting it's decent in the sky, they probably had a few more hours of decent sunlight left. Marco let out a slow breath and stood, moving to the door. His hand rested limply on the door knob for a moment before he tightened his grip and pulled the door open. 

He was met by a small blonde girl who was in the middle of a knocking motion when the door was ripped from her reach.

"Historia- uh, hello, I was just about to go looking for you." Marco smiled cheerfully at her. 

"Oh, well it seems we had the same thought then. Would you mind if I came in?" Historia asked kindly. Marco moved out of the way and hummed in the affirmative. As soon as Historia reached the center of the room she turned around gracefully so that she was facing the tall brunette. 

"I know about Jean." Historia said nonchalantly. As soon as she said "Jean" Marco went pale, he wasn't sure what she was planning on doing with this information but he was suddenly very nervous.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone," she said hurriedly, trying to sooth the panic that was clear in Marco's face. "In fact, I'm dating someone else too, though that's obviously something that we've kept quiet." Historia went to the bed on the far end of the room and sat on it, smoothing the wrinkles in her skirt meticulously. "I came to strike you a deal, I can bring Jean as a servant from my castle to yours, but," Historia was now staring directly into Marco's eyes to make sure he would understand her proposal. "I will also bring my lover." That was it, straight forward, no beating around the bush, the suggestion was there. All Marco had to say was yes or no and he could have the best of both worlds, of course, those "happily ever afters" never happen in real life, do they? 

"I'll give you some time to think about it, you have until we leave tomorrow morning." And with that, she was gone. She had given Marco the option of either letting her young heart be crushed, never allowing her to see whoever this other person was again. She was granting him the ability to take everything from her. Marco's knees were beginning to grow weak, and he was starting to feel the physical effects of all the stress he had undergone. He changed into the nightclothes he had packed and fell into bed. And, with the sun still well into the sky, he slept.

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When he woke up the next morning, the sun had yet to rise and he found a plate of fruits by the door along with a card written in a familiar sloppy hand writing.

**Sorry for yesterday**

**-J**

At the bottom of the page was a small drawing of Jean with an apologetic look on his face, it was actually a rather good drawing to Marco, he could compete with some of his castels artists as well as some better known ones if he practiced enough. He quickly got dressed and went to the stables to make sure his horse was okay, but mostly he just wanted to get out of his room so he could think.  _It's not that hard of a decision,_  Marco thought to himself.  _Even if Jean didn't want anything from our relationship, I wouldn't want Historia to be miserable._

Marco thumbed the bristle of the brush he took off a rack at the entrance of the stables as he looked for his horse among the dozens of others. He heard a soft whinny a few stables down followed by soft cooing. Marco was too far away to tell the gender of the voice so he curiously made his way to the stable that the sounds had come from. 

In the stable was a beautiful tan horse that stood well over the boy that was brushing and calming it. Marco marveled as the boy soothed the horse expertly and with minimal resistance from the horse. When Marco noticed the boy was Jean he began marveling at other  _aspects_ of the boy. The curve of his spine and the angle of his jaw, Marco had never taken this much interest in someone before, which made him want to study Jean even more. 

Jean turned around to leave the stable, supposedly to go to another one, and jumped slightly when he saw Marco staring at him. Jean smirked, then seemed to remember something and his face twisted into a sad smile. 

"What's up freckles?" Jean asked, grabbing his things that he had placed in a wooden pail for convenience and slid past Marco to take care of the next horse. 

"Why are you here?" Marco ignored Jean's question, his old nickname put him in a slightly better mood, but his curiosity was running rampant. 

Jean laughed at Marco's impatience. "I work here...sort of..." Jean trailed off.

"What do you mean "sort of"?" Marco asked.

"Well, my family situation is kind of chaotic...but to try to put in the simplest terms possible, I'm related to Historia and she convinced her dad to let me stay here as long as I took care of the horses." 

"You're related?"

"Well..." Jean started. "My mom was the King's sister, but she married a peasant and so we've kinda been the black sheep of the family." Jean shrugged, placing the bucket down in the stable he had just entered. 

"I never knew that the king had a sister." Marco stated skeptically. 

"No one knows, except the family and a few people who the king trusted...and now you." Jean shot Marco a quick smile before he took out a brush and began combing the fur of the golden horse in front of him. The horse flicked its tail in annoyance at a fly that had stubbornly placed itself on its back. "Here you go." Jean whispered affectionately as he finished up brushing the horse's golden mane.

"You really like horses, huh?" Marco asked, leaning against the stable opening.

"They're nice, calming...they don't care about stupid things like social status and blood, they're welcoming as long as you treat them with love and respect." Jean smiled softly, then realized he probably sounded insane. "Oh god, sorry, i just realized I probably sound like a total lunatic, my bad." Jean moved to the other side of the horse to hide himself in embarrassment, though he masked his movement by pretending to brush the other side of the horse. 

"Marco!" A voice called from the entrance of the stables. Jean and Marco exchanged a quick glance and Jean hid back behind the horse. 

"I'm here!" Marco answered, holding back a laugh. The sound of boots scuffling on the floor reverberated throughout the stables before Levi appeared in front of Marco. 

"We need to leave soon," He said impatiently, when Marco nodded to show that he understood Levi stalked away muttering something about feeling like Marco's mother. Marco turned back to Jean who was still out of his view. 

"Have fun back home." Jean said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. 

"Jean?" Marco asked, looking at Jean's legs and feet which were poking out from under the horse's body.

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering...would you mind coming with me?" Marco couldn't believe how nervous he felt. "It's alright if you want to stay, I know all of your friends are here..." Marco trailed off, unsure of how to continue.

"Really?" Jean asked cautiously, pocking his head into view. Marco nodded, a reassuring smile spreading on his face. Jean stepped away from the horse, careful not to harm or frighten it. As soon as he was out from behind the horse he jumped towards Marco, giving him a tight hug. Marco stumbled slightly before gaining his balance once again, slowly wrapping his arms around the other boy's waist. 

They began walking out of the stables together, they kept a friendly but respectable distance from each other so as not to raise the eyebrows of anyone who may be in the vicinity. The only people they saw were Levi, Historia, and a tall girl that was standing with her. When Historia saw the smiles on Marco and Jean's faces she light up and whispered somthing to the girl that was with her. The other girl only showed the hint of a smile, but her eyes showed her excitement. Marco was surprised to see that Historia's love interest was a girl, but was glad that they had all reached an understanding of sorts. 

"Are we ready to go?" Levi asked as he finished strapping the two horses he and Marco had brought to a carriage that could comfortably seat Jean, Marco, Historia, and the other girl that Marco made a note to learn more about on their journey. 

The four of them all nodded and stepped into the carriage with Levi sitting in the front to guide the horses along. 

Marco was looking forward to the future with a new hope that hadn't filled him since he was a child. This was going to be a wonderful next few decades, and Marco couldn't wait to get started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DID IT! I FINISHED! omg you guys I'm so proud of myself, I know it's not great but -shrugs- idk this is the first fic I actually finished and I'm so sorry it took so long ;_; I might start another one...I dunno, thanks for hanging in there with me, it means the world to me for real you guys, you're the best -cries and hugs you because you guys are seriously amazing-


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